Congreve The Way Quotes & Sayings

O, nothing is more alluring than a levee from a couch in some confusion. — William Congreve

Invention flags, his brain goes muddy, and black despair succeeds brown study. — William Congreve

There are times when sense may be unseasonable, as well as truth. — William Congreve

Love's but the frailty of the mind, When 'tis not with ambition joined; A sickly flame, which if not fed expires; And feeding, wastes in self-consuming fires. — William Congreve

Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. — William Congreve

Who pleases one against his will. — William Congreve

I know a lady that loves to talk so incessantly, she won't give an echo fair play; she has that everlasting rotation of tongue that an echo must wait till she dies before it can catch her last words! — William Congreve

What opposite discoveries we have seen!
(Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.)
One makes new noses, one a guillotine,
One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets;
But vaccination certainly has been
A kind antithesis to Congreve's rockets, ... — Lord Byron

Would any thing but a madman complain of uncertainty? Uncertainty and expectation are joys of life; security is an insipid thing; and the overtaking and possessing of a wish discovers the folly of the chase. — William Congreve

Thou art a retailer of phrases, and dost deal in remnants of remnants. — William Congreve

Women like flames have a destroying power; never to be quenched till they themselves devour. — William Congreve

A wit should no more be sincere, than a woman constant; one argues a decay of parts, as to other of beauty. — William Congreve

In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me. — William Congreve

These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into wife. — William Congreve

I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull. — William Congreve

They are at the end of the gallery; retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom. — William Congreve

Thus in this sad, but oh, too pleasing state! my soul can fix upon nothing but thee; thee it contemplates, admires, adores, nay depends on, trusts on you alone. — William Congreve

A woman only obliges a man to secrecy, that she may have the pleasure of telling herself. — William Congreve

Though marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves 'em still two fools. — William Congreve

An associate of mine named William Congreve once wrote a very sad play that begins with the line 'Music has charms to sooth a savage beast,' a sentence which here means that if you are nervous or upset, you might listen to some music to calm you down or cheer you up. For instance, as I crouch here behind the alter of the Cathedral of the Alleged Virgin, a friend of mine is playing a sonata on the pipe organ, to calm me down and so that the sounds of my typewriter will not be heard by the worshipers sitting in the pews. The mournful melody of the sonata reminds me of a tune my father used to sing when he did the dishes, and as I listen to it I can temporarily forget six or seven of my troubles. — Lemony Snicket

But say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved. To pass our youth in dull indifference, to refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us, is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old, because we one day must be old. — William Congreve

O, she is the antidote to desire. — William Congreve

Hannibal was a very pretty fellow in those days. — William Congreve

I am a fool, I know it; and yet, Heaven help me, I'm poor enough to be a wit. — William Congreve

Let us be very strange and well-bred:Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while;And as well-bred as if we were not married at all. — William Congreve

There is nothing more unbecoming a man of quality than to laugh ... 'tis such a vulgar expression of the passion! — William Congreve

Beauty is the lover's gift. — William Congreve

'Tis well enough for a servant to be bred at an University. But the education is a little too pedantic for a gentleman. — William Congreve

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable. — William Congreve

She likes herself, yet others hates / For that which in herself she prizes; And, while she laughs at them, forgets / She is the thing that she despises. — William Congreve